47

Inverness-shire. Dr. Grant, at page 32 of his report for1898, quotes Mr. D. Fletcher, parochial medical officer ofNorth Harris, to the following effect : " I regret to find that,in spite of all pressure brought to bear on the cattle housingsystem, there are still some in North Harris who stick with

dogged persistency to the traditions of their fathers and

keep their cattle under the same roof as themselves. There

is room for much improvement in the housing of the peoplegenerally, the old mud wall being still the rule. One need

hardly expect to stamp out typhus when such suitable mediafor the preservation of its germs exist."

MICROBES IN HOLY WATER.

On Rome correspondent, in his letter which appeared inTHE LANCET of Dec. 23rd, 1899 (p. 1782), made the

suggestion that the salt which from the earliest ageshas been mingled with the water used for ceremonial

purposes should be modified so as to make it a true

disinfectant. Salt as the best known and probably theearliest used substance for preventing decay was most likelyadded originally purely from its symbolic meaning, thoughpossibly the symbolism, as in so many other instances,grew side by side with the literal meaning. According tothe Catholic Times, of Dec. 29th, 1899, the Osservatore ,

Romano does not fall in with our correspondent’ssuggestion, avowing that, the water being holy, needs nohuman treatment and has never hitherto been regardedas a channel of disease. The Catholic Times goes on in the

following eminently sensible fashion, "God has given usintelligence for use and even when He blesses requires us totake the ordinary precautions which reason suggests. The

argument that no change is advisable because the

necessity for it has not been suspected before now

cuts at the ground of improvement." We are glad to beable to note these remarks of our contemporary as showingthe accordance of common-sense lay opinion with that ofscientific men. We have previously pointed out 1how theChurch has always taken cognisance of men’s bodies as wellas of their souls. There must be no standing still in eitherreligion or science, for in both the intellect is striving toreach heights at present beyond it, but which shall one daybe attained, and that which is now dark shall be made

light. -

KERNIG’S SIGN IN MENINGEAL H/EMORRHAGE.

IN 1884 Kernig described a phenomenon which he thoughtwas found only in affections of the pia mater and always ininflammations of it. When the patient is recumbent the

legs can be easily extended on the thighs, but when he sitsup extension is rendered impossible by contracture of theflexor muscles. After having attracted but little notice

during 14 years Kernig’s sign has recently receivedconsiderable attention and, has been found to be of

great value in the diagnosis of meningeal diseases. Inthe main Kernig’s conclusions have been confirmed ;the sign appears to be present in about from 80 to

90 per cent. of cases of meningitis. At the meeting ofthe Société Medicale des Hopitaux on Dec. 1st, 1899,MM. Fernand Widal and Prosper Merklen called attention to the occurrence of Kernig’s sign in cases of meningeal hæmorrhage and to its diagnostic value. Cases of

meningeal hmmorrhage in which the sign has beenobserved are rare, though such have been recorded

by Kernig himself. MM. Widal and Merklen relatedthe case of a healthy man, aged 32 years, who while

writing in his office without any premonitory symptomsfell from his chair unconscious. He regained conscious-ness in some hours without having shown any change

1 THE LANCET, Sept. 18th, 1897, p. 733.

in temperature, paralysis, or contracture. He complainedonly of intense headache affecting the whole head and thenof pain in the back. Movements of the trunk were difficultand painful. The pupils were slightly dilated, the eyes weresuffused with tears, and the face was congested. There

was neither albuminuria nor glycosuria. When the patientwas recumbent the legs were extended on the thighs, butwhen he sat on the edge of the bed the legs became flexedin contracture and could not be extended. He remained in

this state for four days. On the fifth day the temperaturerose to 100.4° F. and there was slight oontracture of the neck;on the sixth and seventh days the temperature oscillatedbetween 1004° and 1018°. Kernig’s sign persisted and theheadache and backache were intense. On the ninth daydeath occurred suddenly from syncope. At the necropsya clot was found beneath the arachnoid membrane

extending as far forward as the optic nerves; it was pro-

longed on the anterior surface of the pons, medulla, andcord as far as could be seen through the foramen magnum.The spinal canal was full of liquid blood. The posteriorand superior region of the cord was congested. The

posterior spinal artery was dilated and was full oflittle disseminated clots. This was the only lesion of thecentral nervous system found after the most minute exami-nation. The mechanism of the meningeal haemorrhageescaped observation. Probably syphilis (which the patienthad contracted seven years previously) played a part. In

this case but for Kernig’s sign a meningeal lesion would nothave been suspected. No doubt irritation of the meningesby the clot is the cause of the phenomenon.

DERMOID CYST OF THE OVARY WITH TWISTED

PEDICLE IN A CHILD.

IN the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of Sept. 28thDr. J. V. Meigs has published a case of this rare conditionwhich is further interesting in consequence of urinarysymptoms which caused difficulty of diagnosis from hydro-

nephrosis. A female child, aged 10 years, was healthyexcept for occasional painful micturition with incontinenceor suppression of urine. While playing she fell from a swingon the buttocks. Immediately intense abdominal painsupervened, which increased. On undressing the childthe mother noticed for the first time a swellingin the abdomen. The patient was sent to a hospital, wheredistended bladder was diagnosed, but on catheterism

only about an ounce of urine was obtained. The abdo-men was very tender and somewhat tympanitic, andexamination was possible only under an anaesthetic. The

child was beginning to show evidence of shock. Hydro-nephrosis caused probably by a kink or twist of the ureterfrom the fall was diagnosed. When the patient wasanaesthetised a somewhat solid tumour as large as a cocoa-nut and moveable was found below and to the right of theumbilicus. Laparotomy showed a dermoid cyst of the rightovary with the pedicle twisted one and a half times. The

cyst was dark from impairment of the circulation. It wasremoved and found to contain sebaceous matter, cartilage,and bone. Recovery ensued.

’

CELLAR DWELLINGS IN STOCKPORT.

DR. CHARLES PORTER, the medical officer of health,recently submitted to the Sanitary Committee of the TownCouncil of Stockport a report upon cellar dwellings. On

Nov. 3rd, 1899, Mr. Justice Bucknill made some remarksupon certain evidence which was, given and inquired if therewere no law in Stockport that people should not live in thesecellars. A Manchester paper further stated that some

of these dwellings were "practically of modern con-

struction." Dr. Porter points out that in the opinion of

48

the borough surveyor no cellar dwelling has been erected since 1875 owing to the Public Health Act of that year pro-hibiting their erection. As to Mr. Justice Bucknill’s ques-tion there is no law in Stockport or anywhere else to preventpeople living in a cellar because it is not so clean as it

might be (which was the only evidence given beforethe court as to the cellar in question). The Public HealthAct of 1875, however, lays down certain requirements forcellar dwellings. Dr. Porter, in mentioning that there.are still 157 cellar dwellings in Stockport, states that

they have been periodically visited and inspected with

regard to the requirements of the Act. Most of them are

nominally deficient in one respect or another, 68 have nodrain, and 57 are without any means of through ventilation.Dr. Porter points out that many of these dwellings are keptscrupulously clean and afford a last asylum to " scores ofpoor worn-out old souls." He therefore thinks that thestrict letter of the law should not be enforced but that thecellar should only be closed when the tenant leaves. Heconcludes his report by asking if it be not possible as anordinary commercial speculation to provide dwellings in

which deserving old people could get a healthy room forIs. per week. We are glad to see that the Sanitary Com-mittee are not going to alter their mode of procedure so thatthe aged tenants will be undisturbed until they "leave."Cellar dwellings are not desirable but there are occasions inwhich mercy is better than sacrifice.

CHARITABLE BEQUESTS AND DONATIONSIN 1899.

IN summarising the bequests left to hospitals and medicalcharities during the past year the Charity Record andHospital Times says that £1,390,136, as against £ 1,303,720in 1898, have gone to medical - charities. Referring to

donations our contemporary remarks that it is impossible tomake any comparison. "Up to the commencement of thewar large donations were fairly frequent, but in thelast few months they have been more conspicuousby their absence." Early in the year the executorsof Mr. F. 0. Baines gave £ 10,000 to the NationalLifeboat Institution, and Mr. W. Cadge gave .610,000to the endowment fund of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital,. while Mr. J. Wheeler Bennett, as a New Year’s gift, pre-sented the Bromley (Kent) Cottage Hospital with .64,000.Mr. J. Robinson undertook to build a new wing to the

Nottingham Hospital. Mr. E. P. Wills gave .gZ5,000 to theBristol Jabilee Convalescent Home. "Mr. A. H. Moncurhas offered to build a Sanatorium for Consumption at

Dundee at a cost of .g 10,000, and an anonymousdonor offered L5000 for five years if the scheme

were carried out, and both offers have been accepted.The anonymous donor M.’ has given another £ 5000to Guy’s Hospital. The Earl of Leicester has givenanother £ 5000 to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital,thus raising his total gifts to this institution to £ 40,000.With a view to enabling the committee of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Infirmary to claim a large legacy Mr. J. Eno gave.f.8500. The Duke of Westminster presented the EclipseStakes of £ 10,000 to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Rhyl.Mrs. T. Lund has offered £ 5000 to establish almshouses at

Padsey and Lord Ashton has handed a cheque for .610,000to the secretary of the Royal Albert Asylum for Idiots,Lancashire."

___

.

WE beg to call the attention of our readers to the lettersigned by Dr. Frederick Roberts, Mr. Edmund Owen, Dr. W.Collingridge, Dr. W. Duncan, and Dr. J. E. Squire, appealingto the younger members of the profession to enrol them-selves in the Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteer forces. Inthe face of present circumstances it becomes the duty

of every man to bear any part that he can in our Imperialdefences, and we feel sure that the medical profession willnot be slow to respond to the appeal of Dr. Roberts and his

co-signatories. -

AN HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE USE OFPRESERVATIVES AND COLOURING

MATTERS IN FOOD,ACCORDING TO THE INQUIRIES OF THE ANALYTICAL

SANITARY COMMISSION OF THE LANCET FROM

1851 TO THE PRESENT TIME.

As is well. known, the question of colouring matters andpreservatives in food is receiving the earnest attention of a

committee of inquiry appointed some months ago by theLocal Government Board. Already a considerable amountof valuable evidence has been given which in view of its

importance and of its great public interest we have publishedand shall continue to publish at length in our columns. We

may claim fairly, we think, to have adopted an initiativeinquiry upon the subject in its modern aspect ourselves threeyears ago when we invited certain recognised authorities onfood and drugs to give us their opinions, which we sub-sequently published, together with the results of our own

work, in THE LANCET of Jan. 2nd, 1897, page 56, under theheading of THE LANCET Special Sanitary Commission on theUse of Antiseptics in Food. These opinions were summarisedby our own Commissioners and we believe that this contribu-tion on the subject has been of material service to the Preser-vatives Committee. The purpose of the present article is toshow that the subject has an interesting history dating back,so far as the work of THE LANCET is concerned, nearly halfa century.

Undoubtedly attention was tirst drawn to the preservationand artificial colouring of food with the commencement ofthe labours of the Analytical Sanitary Commission of THELANCET which was instituted in the year 1851 by the lateMr. Thomas Wakley, M.P., the Founder of the journal. The

gross forms of fraud which this Commission brought to viewwere in the main not related to the specific subject which thepresent Committee on Preservatives are considering. Never-theless some important matters were touched upon whichbear distinctly upon the history of the employment of pre-servatives and colouring matters in food, and which, therefore,we venture to think are of special interest at the presenttime.The first report dealing with the adulterations of coffee

contains little that is germane to the subject, but in THELANCET of Sept. 20th, 1851, page 279,

THE ADULTERATIONS OF MILK*are described. In this article mention is made of the use ofturmeric added for the purpose of producing in milk arichness of colour, making the dilution with water andabstraction of cream less apparent. In the same articlereference is made to the addition of carbonate of soda to

prevent milk from turning sour. Milk thus treated may be

kept, it is said, for eight or ten days. Again, milk of almondsis referred to as being sometimes present in milk, and as oilof almonds is decidedly antiseptic, the object of its additionwas probably for preserving purposes or as a corrective. Thisseems to be the first historic reference to the use ofpreservatives in milk.The next reference to the use of a preservative was in con-

nexion with the

ADDITION OF SULPHURIC ACID TO VINTEGAR.

THE LANCET Commission regarded this addition as

unnecessary, since some makers dispensed with it altogether.As a result of the inquiry it was shown that of 33 samplesanalysed eight samples contained a quantity of sulphuric acidnot exceeding the amount permitted to be added, while inthe remaining cases the amount exceeded this, and in someinstances was three or four times as great.The next inquiry (1852) related to

PICKLES

and their adulteration, and here again the presence of freesulphuric acid was shown and of copper in varying amounts

1 THE LANGET, Jan. 10th, 1852, p. 51